The Other Foundation

Location: Southern Africa

Focus: LGBTQI human rights in Southern Africa

Website: http://theotherfoundation.org

The Other Foundation are a grant-giving body that champions equality and freedom across Southern Africa, with a focus on SOGIE. They have established strategic partnerships with community organisations, creating inroads into previously inaccessible spaces, such as church groups and businesses. Notable achievements include funding projects that resulted in the Botswana High Court’s landmark ruling on the decriminalisation of same-sex relations; sensitising journalists in Madagascar about violence, exclusion, and injustice towards LGBTQI people; and enabling the creation of a national activists’ alliance in Namibia.

COVID-19 threatens to roll back gains made by an already marginalised movement in the region. In response, the Foundation pivoted their grant-making to support remote work, gatherings and digital security. They facilitated the procurement of masks, sanitisers, and other PPE, and supported the documentation of  human rights abuses as a result of restrictions, referring cases to the authorities or advocacy groups. In 2021, GiveOut’s grant will support the Foundation’s core costs as they continue to work towards expanding space for LGBTQI human rights activism and activist protection in the region.

In January 2021, a Zambian newspaper began exposing LGBTQI organisations supported by the Foundation, endangering the lives of those working at and dependent on their services. Since the beginning of the pandemic, politicians and religious leaders have targeted the LGBTQI community. The Foundation responded by providing emergency relief to activists on the ground to ensure their safety, and are supporting the establishment of a regional-level protection mechanism for frontline LGBTQI human rights activists.

GiveOut is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registered Charity Number 1176434).